Chapter 10

Donnie held out an arm to stop Mikey from rushing down there. Mikey fidgeted, nearly bouncing on his feet.

"Come on, they need help, we gotta help them!"

"I know! But just think for a minute, Mikey." He pointed down to the small army of Foot ninjas that surrounded the other two brothers. "We rush down there, what do you think is gonna happen?"

"We'll get our shells whipped."

"Exactly. We are going to wait and then we'll figure out the best way to get Raph and Leo out of there without provoking an attack from the Foot. See what I mean?"

Mikey nodded. He crouched down beside Donnie and waited, although he couldn't keep his hands from constantly wringing together nervously.

Donnie examined the room and sighed. There was no way they would manage to get Raph and Leo out, not on their own. The two youngest turtles could only sit and watch as the ninjas gathered up their brothers' weapons and handed them to the Shredder. Dogpound stepped forward and in a single swipe picked up the net in his fist, with both captives.

Raph slipped down next to Leo as the mutant giant lifted the net up and tied the opening closed. The makeshift bag was then swung over Dogpound's shoulder and the Foot Clan vanished into the shadows. Leo grunted and sat up the best that he could. Raph felt the coarse fur of the mutant on his arm and flinched away from it, not wanting to even touch Dogpound if he didn't have to.

He sighed and looked around for any way possible of getting out of that situation and found none. His energy wasn't even spent completely yet and they'd managed to get beaten. The bad news was that Donnie and Mikey would either be their only hope of escape or already be headed home and have no idea what had happened. Either way, it didn't look good.

Not half a minute passed before Dogpound sliced open the net and dumped the load into a large steel box. Leo flipped onto his shell and looked up just as the lid snapped shut on them. The only light they had was from the tiny holes poked into the side and top of the box. They must have been in a vehicle because they heard an engine start and the box jolted into life, rumbling and shifting with every hole in the road.

Raph sat up and rubbed his head. He muttered insults about Dogpound, Karai, the Foot and the Shredder before flicking his eyes over to Leo.

"What now, Leo? Want to throw me over a cliff next?"

Leo glared at him and slid his legs around so he could sit comfortably. Well, as comfortable as possible.

"Sit tight and wait, I guess. They have our weapons and I don't have anything on me that would help break out of this box."

"Wonderful."

Leo watched as Raph ran his hand over his ankle. The cut had stopped bleeding, but it had swollen up slightly. Leo flexed his own wrist from when the net had dropped and he'd landed on it awkwardly. But he was more worried about his brother right now. Raph was far worse in condition than he was, having spent half the night in the clutches of the Foot and they still weren't out.

He glanced at the cut on Raph's shoulder. It was deeper than the rest, and a small stream of blood still stemmed from it. Leo slipped off a strand of the wrapping on his wrist and went to press it onto the cut, but Raph flinched away suddenly. Leo raised his hands and leaned back.

"Easy, Raph. I'm just trying to help."

Raph felt heat rise to his face. He hadn't meant to flinch, but after the events of the night, he was on edge. He took a breath.

Dude, you gotta calm down. It's just Leo. Must be pretty bad if you're jumping away from your own brother.

His first instinct was to refuse, because in his mind, taking help meant that he needed help, and that made him feel… weak. But one of Splinter's teachings came into his mind.

'A wise man one told me that accepting help from others does not mean you are weak. It does not mean that you have failed. It means that you are strong. It means that you are not fighting alone. It means that you trust enough to let them help you, and to someday repay the favor.'

He pushed the snappy outburst back and relaxed again with a muttered apology.

"Sorry. Guess I'm a bit jumpy tonight."

Leo shrugged and wrapped the fabric around Raph's arm to keep it in place. His hands held a familiar gentleness to them, similar to Splinter's.

"Don't blame you. I'd probably be the same way. We all would."

Raph felt a distinct annoyance at being taken care of and comforted by his only older brother, but suffered through it anyways. He couldn't stand the silence in the stupid container so he kept talking. It was the only thing they could do.

"Man, this didn't turn out the way I thought it would."

"Since when does anything we do turn the way we think it does? I don't think we're ever going to have a single fight where we don't get any surprises or sudden twists. Be nice if we could but just think about it. We're giant humanoid turtles that fight alien robots, ninjas and mutants and live in the sewers beneath one of the most famous cities in the country. If nothing normal has happened to us by now, I don't think it ever will."

Raph snorted a laugh and shrugged.

"You got a point there."

Silence passed for a few more minutes before Raphael finally voiced what they'd both been thinking.

"This is gonna be one tough cookie to get out of, Leo. We don't know where we are or where they're taking us, and we don't even know if Donnie and Mikey have a clue of what happened. We're stuck in a stupid metal container without any weapons what so ever and the only people within a mile radius that even know we exist are against us. Explain how we get out of this one, oh great leader."

Leo locked his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. He closed his eyes with a sigh and shook his head.

"I don't know, Raph. I really don't."